COVENTRY City may think they've dodged a bullet after the FA only warned them as to their future conduct with regard to their game at Barnsley in October.

Both clubs were found guilty of failing to control their players at the match, which also featured the first public airing of the suggestion that ex-boss Micky Adams didn't know what he was doing.

But it is understood that City are just one more game away from being punished by the FA on exactly the same charge.

FA observers have noticed that since the Barnsley game, City have 'demonstrated little or no control over their players whatsoever'.

And if things don't improve against Luton on Tuesday, City will fall from grace quicker than you can say 'Jade Goody to star in a Bollywood remake of Mississippi Burning'.

The main culprits, according to the observers, are:

1. Robert Page - 'since being handed the captaincy, he has run round like a headless chicken.'

2. The entire midfield - 'have no control over the ball, what to do with it or where it should be going.'

3. Luke Steele - 'seems incapable of using any part of his body to good effect.

'Only Stern John comes in for praise from the observers, who note that: 'Mr John has shown exceptional control, evidenced by his refusal to make anything but the most cursory of movements for large chunks of each game'.

The FA have also taken pity on new boy Michael Mifsud, exempting him from the current investigation after he said that the main reason he joined Coventry was to work with Micky Adams.

An FA spokesman said that the Luton game would be the acid test for city's players.

"If they can't show they have at least a modicum of control over what they are doing, then we will be forced to act.

"The one problem we have is determining what form any punishment might take.

"We can hardly fine the cash-strapped club, as this would be like ordering Teddy Sheringham's bint to start using her brain.

"And a points deduction would be unduly harsh as the players seem hell bent on getting the club relegated as it is."

Instead, the FA are considering a more progressive form of punishment.

"We'll start by ordering the club to employ a caretaker manager who has absolutely no chance of getting the job on a permanent basis, thus causing confusion and a lack of direction.

"This order will be in place for around six matches or when the club is mired in a relegation battle, whichever is the soonest.

"And it should also mean that any attempts to bring new players in during the transfer window are as good as hopeless."

A source close to the City board welcomed the FA's progressive punishment idea, saying: "That's pretty much what we had in mind for the club anyway."